Hello, thanks for the lists and help, I'm putting together my 1000pt army at the moment. I have a couple of list building questions:

- How come people use a Warrior over a Carnifex or Haruspex with the poorer fight stats and same cost. I am going to assume it is for the extra Synapse?

- I don't see Raveners used with a Synapse Swarm, I know their tunneler ability is wasted but for 30 points you get infiltrator and an EA. It seems like it could be useful in getting engaged in CC. Their natural place is with the Trygons but I'd rather save those points to fit other War Engines in.

- How come people use a Warrior over a Carnifex or Haruspex with the poorer fight stats and same cost. I am going to assume it is for the extra Synapse?

Yes. You go from 2 to 3 synapse points, which means an extra stand spawned even when halved.

As Shoel says, only add an AV creatures if you're using a Tyrant; In that case, add two so the Tyrant isn't (easily) sniped, and the INF can get cover from base contact with the AVs.

JJMicromegas wrote:

- I don't see Raveners used with a Synapse Swarm, I know their tunneler ability is wasted but for 30 points you get infiltrator and an EA. It seems like it could be useful in getting engaged in CC. Their natural place is with the Trygons but I'd rather save those points to fit other War Engines in.

Hormagaunts are just as good at tying up enemies in CC, and are part of the base swarm. You rarely need more than 2-4 CC infiltrators in practice (due to enemies far away, or skimming). Better to save the points and get more formations overall.

I used a variation of the above list yesterday in our minigeddon tournament with some good success, although I only played one game, against the speed freaks, I won 3-0. A couple of observations:- I had my Trygons pop up on my side of the board near an objective on turn 2, however that made them vulnerable to assault. Next time I'll pop them up near the Blitz but in a safer spot - I didn't manage to get a single CC, I found it quite difficult to get close enough without be FF's in return.- My Synapse swarms, however, did do well enough in FF to survive and at times break the enemy.- My biovores were the MVP, they broke two enemy formations and also gave me good table control as my opponent was hesitant to move within 60cm of them.

So all in all I really enjoyed my first experience, albeit it was a limited playtest, I'm really looking forward ot trying them out some more. My list looked like this:

I saw you mentioned having trouble getting into CC with the list. I've had that occur as well. That's why I like adding the Haruspex instead of 2x Carnifex. Even if the shots are only at 15cm, it's still a BM.

Turn 2 Trygons at the midline are my preferred way of using them. Yes it opens them up to an assault, but it guarantees they see action, it draws fire from your other formations, and you get two turns out of them.

I'm glad the biovores worked well. For their points, they're a great addition.

I’ve played about 4-5 games with the Tyranids now and have been reasonably successful, they are my favourite army to play right now and are super fluffy. Here are some observations and tactics that I’ve found useful:

- It’s actually quite difficult to get your swarms into CC, however, they are still pretty decent at FF with all those roles and fearless AVs. The enemy tends to stay out of CC range so if you push your swarms up aggressively in turn 1 you can grab territory early on.- I advance with 2 swarms supporting each other at a time, this helps to set up assaults, support and makes it very difficult for the enemy to deal with. I tend to do a march action in the first turn to hopefully get into assault range in turns 2 and 3.- I always take an extra warrior for each swarm because if you lose the synapse units they become pretty useless, with the synapse units they are pretty scary.- You really should take advantage of the War Engines that provide good value for money: Dominatrix, Harridan and Trygons. The Harridans in particular are great for putting blast markers on enemy units in advance of an assault and provide the mobility that the list lacks.- The Trygons I’ve had mixed success with, they tend to underwhelm when they pop up, but for 225 points they cause a lot of fear and uncertainty for my opponents and tend to tie up, if not kill, more points than they’re worth.- The bio-titans are ok but I have found them a bit underwhelming, in most cases I would prefer the mobility of Harridans and Trygons. They may be useful if you really need a shooty list.- Dactylis and biovores, I love these for their disrupt ability and are a must have, they tend to absorb a lot of shooting attention too which takes away from the swarms.- Genestealers are fantastic for their points, they are basically a 150 point instant death suicide squad but they have punched above their weight several times for me. I have in mind a genestealer spam list, with just swarms and an equivalent number of genestealer and a few Harridans to spread the blast markers.- I haven’t experimented with the gargoyles, exocrines, zoanthropes or lictors, but I haven’t really felt like I’ve missed them either. I have no idea why I would ever bring a malefactor.- The Haruspex is ok, its ability to fire 15cm is situational at best, in most cases I think I prefer the fearless Carnifex.

All in all, I really enjoy this list and don’t think it’s missing anything, it makes up for it's weaknesses with some very effective and cheap troops. It won’t match up well against certain lists but that’s about the same with any faction in the game. In my last game I played against a very shooty Squat army and got to a draw using the tactics above (we didn’t have time for a 4th turn that would’ve decided it one way or the other).

Last edited by JJMicromegas on Thu Jun 29, 2017 3:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

One of my more common BTSs was a small swarm with 4 Malefactors. The 10-15cm of extra move (and 5cm of disembark) on turn 1 gave me a few more assault options on turn 2. Because of the higher speed, they're also easier to put up front where you can take advantage of their better armor in an assault. Ya, you can do the same thing with the fex and spex, but they're moving just as fast as your little stuff. Often, that'll mean you're either taking hits on the little stuff or keeping them further back and potentially losing out on FF attacks.

They serve a role similar to a Carnifex. You're effectively trading in fearless for two shots and the ability to lay a BM. I've met people who've said the 'fex is worthless and they'd rather have the shots, and others who've said just the opposite. It comes down to preference really, I find both abilities useful and tend to have both in an army.

I'll offer some experience as well. I've played Nids for a couple years and have had a reasonable success. - exocrines are awesome for those two shots a piece w RA. A group of four can put out 8 shots and can be pretty hard to get rid of. - the heirodule is awesome with it's 4bp template. You can really put the hurt on formations with it. It comes with the added benefit of drawing fire away from a Dominatrix as well. - zoanthropes provide a little extra AA which can sometimes help keep flyers off the board. Plus it is a nice little macro shot. I had a zoanthrope shoot down a fully loaded chaos Thawk once. Not bad for 25 pts. - I really like carnifex went they get in CC. Plus, combined w a fearless hive tyrant can make a formation keep coming back. However, as you mentioned, s smart opponent won't give you that CC chance. Having the 15cm shots off a sprex can ease that frustration. I usually bring one of each in three formations and a sprex w/o fex in a forth, cheaper formation. Best of both worlds. - lictors are good for SC assassinations, turn three obj grabs/contests, and finishing off beaten up formations. I'd recommend taking an extra to keep them from breaking in case they pick up a BM teleporting in.- I don't take Malefactors much, especially after the last round of revisions. I used to take one w the Dom to make a slightly stronger BTS just in case of Death strikes.

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